photo by: City of Lawrence

The orange area on this map is the proposed site for a new Aldi grocery store at the corner of Sixth Street and George Williams Way.

Plans for an Aldi grocery store at Sixth Street and George Williams Way seem to be moving forward again, and the project has several key votes coming up next week — including on a tax district that would let the developer recoup more than a million dollars of its cost.

On Monday, the Planning Commission will be considering whether to approve the preliminary plat for the property at the northeast corner of Sixth and George Williams and making a recommendation on a special use permit for the Aldi store.

Then, on Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider a Community Improvement District for the development. The CID would create a new 1% sales tax for the project area, which would reimburse the developer for some of the project’s costs.

The developer, Catalyst Property Group, would still be paying the costs up front, but the revenues generated by the CID would reimburse some of that on a pay-as-you-go basis. City staff is recommending that the developer be reimbursed for just over $1.4 million of eligible principal costs plus interest, for a maximum total reimbursement of about $2.9 million over a maximum time of 22 years.

Economic development staff said in a memo to the City Commission that the city wouldn’t be asked to pledge any money from its general fund or take on any debt. The reimbursement would come solely from the new 1% sales tax. Staff estimates that the net fiscal benefits to the city from approving the CID and getting the store built would be about $2.23 million over 10 years.

The memo says the developer is seeking the incentive mainly because of the difficulty of building on this particular site, which features steep slopes and challenging rock and soil conditions. “Approximately $2.59 million, or nearly 48% of the developer’s project budget, is attributable to horizontal construction and sitework,” the memo reads.

As the Journal-World reported in the spring, the terrain of the site has caused problems for the Aldi project before.

Back in May, developers asked the Board of Zoning Appeals for an exemption from the rules in the city’s Land Development Code on how far back properties can be from the street; because of the sloping terrain, they wanted the store to be farther away from the western edge of the property. But the board rejected that request.

Based on planning staff’s report this time around, it seems some progress has been made on this issue administratively. The report says that in October, the planning director approved a waiver to increase the maximum setback from 25 feet to 44.29 feet in order to avoid conflicts with the slope and with buried utility lines. Planning staff is recommending approval of the special use permit for the project, with several conditions related to parking, landscaping and the property’s access points.

The 20,000-square-foot store would be Aldi’s second location in Lawrence – the other one is near the intersection of 31st and Iowa streets. It would also be the second major retailer to locate in this far western area of the city, following the recently opened Costco store about a block away.

The Planning Commission meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., and the City Commission meets at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, also at City Hall.